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| Iraq |
| Russia seeks to muscle in on Iraq oil |
| 2009-09-18 |
| The Russian energy minister's visit to Iraq earlier this month, as Baghdad prepares to auction off oil contracts to foreign companies in December, underscores how Western oil majors may be cut out of potentially lucrative production deals. This stems in part from Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki's differences with the surge of violence that has accompanied the U.S. military withdrawal from Iraq. This has raised anti-U.S. sentiment in many quarters at a time when Big Oil is battling to secure access to some of Iraq's biggest oil fields and the vast untapped reserves that could surpass even Saudi Arabia's riches. Meantime, energy-hungry China and Japan have also been making moves in Baghdad to grab a piece of the action, adding to the discomfort of the big U.S. and European oil giants. They want to open up an oil industry that they once controlled until it was nationalized by the Baathist regime in 1973. Russia is keen to reassert the influence Moscow had in Baghdad during Saddam Hussein's rule, which ended with the U.S.-led invasion of March 2003. Under Saddam, the Russians were all set to get access to Iraq's oil. But his fall from power left those highly favorable deals dangling. |
| Posted by:ed |
| #2 ION KIEVAN RUS, WAFF > BLACK SEA CRISIS DEEPENS AS US-NATO THREAT TO IRAN GROWS [espec Russia vs. Georgia], + MISREADING THE IRAN SITUATION + TURKEY ALLOWS NATO BACK INTO THE BLACK SEA AFTER RUSSIA-GEORGIA WAR. |
| Posted by: JosephMendiola 2009-09-18 19:03 |
| #1 stand back moscow. |
| Posted by: newc 2009-09-18 11:03 |